As a Hannukah/Christmas present, Amy took me to see MC Frontalot at Knitting Factory Brooklyn. We were impressed by Schaffer the Darklord, fled the unintelligible noise of Math the Band, and didn't stay for the Wheatus, the headliners. In preparation, I played a bunch of Frontalot for Amy, which was useful -- it was much easier to enjoy music where we knew the words, as they were often difficult to hear.

Molly Mae and the latest iteration of her disapproval played Pianos again, with new guitarist Peter Goodrich and guest Chevonne on vocals & keyboards. The Micks opened. Interestingly I hear Peter's guitar more clearly in the video.

It was funny to hear Old Plank Road performed by someone other than The Magpie, although I heard Benjoya mentioned a few times. I sat next to Sheriff Uncle Bob and recognize he was dressed for the evening from his sheriff's star (and tie with more stars), but didn't realize until he went onstage that he was a performer.

Freddy's Bar has reopened in a new location. The new place is larger and nicer, although they still need to sort some things out -- staff kept walking through the stage during the performances. To celebrate the occasion, Freddy's hosted 3 bands on opening night: The Magpie, Brute Force, and Les Sans Culottes. Josh and I were there to see Gavin play in both The Magpie and Les Sans Culottes.

Many folks were snapping away with DSLRs and phones, and one fellow had a serious looking video camera, on a tripod, atop a raised platform. Fortunately for us all, Freddy's had the lights on.

Tonight Gavin played clarinet in the 4th Street Nite Owls at Two Boots. The music was good and the photos & video (56:10) came out pretty well, considering the poor light -- although Gavin spent most of the show hiding in shadow.

Tonight Molly Does Not Approve hosted Femme Totale, inviting several dancers to perform to their original music. After throwing out more than half my photos (pole dancing lighting is unfriendly to photography) and trimming down 10gb of video, here's what remains.

This show made clear that Festivus is the pole dancer's holiday. We saw a celebration, with Feats of Strength, all orchestrated around Festivus Poles. Fortunately Molly managed to transmute the Airing of Grievances into a song, "Stop Stealing My Shit" -- much more fun than watching Frank Costanza lay into George.

Photographic lesson of the evening: use a 'fast' lens -- give up composing in favor of more photons. Second lesson: don't take stills while filming -- the video freezes are too disruptive.

I hadn't been to the Knitting Factory in years -- so long that in the interim, they closed that 'new' location and opened a Brooklyn venue instead.

The openers were I Fight Dragons, who played 'real' instruments as well as various Nintendo controllers (beeping from the standard gamepads, as well as a Power Glove and Power Pad, and Rock Band guitar). The 5 men all wore superhero t-shirts, and the woman wore a Wonder Woman belt (and the Power Glove). Their merch was also excellent.

The second act was Whole Wheat Bread. During their short set a mosh pit formed, and we saw 2 fights. Someone just failed to knock me over. I hadn't seen a mosh pit in over 15 years!

MC Chris performed alone (aside from background recordings, including his own voice -- a bit confusing). His voice was a bit hard to hear, but a solid contingent in the middle of the room knew all the words, so they didn't need to hear him -- not that their singing along made it any easier to hear Chris. Lots of call & response. His lyrics are great, although the spoken self-deprecating (Jewish) humor and his small nebbishy appearance were at odds with the lyrics, which sound like 2 Live Crew smartened up. Last show of this tour.

Godwin's Law: invoked. He did a bit about how dropping some phat beats might have diverted the Nazis from killing Jews. All over the music from "Lowrider".